Teva Licenses Pain Drug, Ends Wound Care Deal in Strategy Shift

Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
licensed a pain drug and ended an alliance for its wound-care
business as part of the strategy Chief Executive Officer Jeremy
Levin is laying out today to investors.

Teva will pay Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. $41 million for
the right to market XEN402, a drug under development for a
variety of painful disorders, the Petach Tikvah, Israel-based
company said in a statement. Xenon is eligible for additional
payments of as much as $335 million if the medicine meets
development, regulatory and sales goals. The agreement fits with
Teva’s strategy to focus on drugs for areas including pain and
illnesses of the central nervous system, the company said.

Levin’s strategy marks a shift for Teva from growth through
acquisitions to more focus on developing branded drugs through
research and licensing agreements. Teva also said its branded
businesses are focusing on CNS, oncology, pain, respiratory and
women’s health therapeutic areas.

Teva also ended a partnership with a unit of Tel Aviv-based
Clal Biotechnology Industries Ltd. for the development of its
PolyHeal and NexoBrid products. Teva notified Clal it would not
continue the collaboration as wound-care is not one of its
strategic focus areas, Clal said.

Teva’s Levin will elaborate on the company’s new strategy
in a meeting with investors today at 12:00 p.m. New York time.
Teva’s best-selling drug, the multiple-sclerosis treatment
Copaxone, faces competition from newer oral drugs and is set to
lose patent protection by 2015.